Religious people are less intelligent than non-believers, according to a new review of 63 scientific studies stretching back over decades.

A team led by Miron Zuckerman of the University of Rochester found “a reliable negative relation between intelligence and religiosity” in 53 out of 63 studies

Even in extreme old age, intelligent people are less likely to believe, the researchers found - and the reasons why people with high IQs shun religion may not be as simple as previously thought.

Previous studies have tended to assume that intelligent people simply “know better”, the researchers write - but the reasons may be more complex.

For instance, intelligent people are more likely to be married, and more likely to be successful in life - and this may mean they “need” religion less.

The studies used in Zuckerman's paper included a life-long analysis of the beliefs of a group of 1,500 gifted children - those with IQs over 135 - in a study which began in 1921 and continues today.

Even at 75 to 91 years of age, the children from Lewis Terman’s study scored lower for religiosity than the general population - contrary to the widely held belief that people turn to God as they age. The researchers noted that data was lacking about religious attitudes in old age and say, “Additional research is needed to resolve this issue.”

As early as 1958, Michael Argyle concluded, “Although intelligent children grasp religious concepts earlier, they are also the first to doubt the truth of religion, and intelligent students are much less likely to accept orthodox beliefs, and rather less likely to have pro-religious attitudes.”

A 1916 study quoted in Zuckerman’s paper (Leuba) found that, “58% of randomly selected scientists in the United States expressed disbelief in, or doubt regarding the existence of God; this proportion rose to nearly 70% for the most eminent scientists.”

The paper, published in the academic journal Personality and Social Psychology Review, said “Most extant explanations (of a negative relation) share one central theme—the premise that religious beliefs are irrational, not anchored in science, not testable and, therefore, unappealing to intelligent people who “know better.”

The answer may, however, be more complex. Intelligent people may simply be able to provide themselves with the psychological benefits offered by religion - such as “self-regulation and self-enhancement”, because they are more likely to be successful, and have stable lives.

“Intelligent people typically spend more time in school—a form of self-regulation that may yield long-term benefits,” the researchers write. “More intelligent people get higher level jobs (and better employment (and higher salary) may lead to higher self-esteem, and encourage personal control beliefs.”

“Last, more intelligent people are more likely to get and stay married (greater attachment), though for intelligent people, that too comes later in life. We therefore suggest that as intelligent people move from young adulthood to adulthood and then to middle age, the benefits of intelligence may continue to accrue.”

The researchers suggest that further research on the “function” of religion may reveal more.

“People possessing the functions that religion provides are likely to adopt atheism, people lacking these very functions (e.g., the poor, the helpless) are likely to adopt theism,” the researchers wrote.

__________________My name is Clay. I am a clueless moron when it comes to evaluating football talent. I thought that Pat Mahomes was unworthy of being drafted in the first round, also, I wanted Geno Smith first overall. I also claimed that tyreek hill was undeserving of even being in the CFL. I am wrong 20x more than I'm right and I will troll this site with my uneducated football takes.

Let's try this again: do you believe IQ differs among different racial and ethnic groups? Yes or no.

I'm going to resist your urge to hijack this into another one of your racial threads. Religious belief, especially as an adult, is a choice. Your race and ethnicity is not. The article is about the IQ of people who made a decision on what to believe.

An understanding, perhaps, but not fact or truth. It bothers me just as much when religious folk claim they KNOW that God exists as it does when atheists claim the opposite.

I'm in complete accord. In both cases I feel that parties are afraid of the unknown and use a deity or its absence as an organizing principle for the unknowable.

__________________
"When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.”--Abraham Lincoln

I understand the intent, but I still very much question how it's being applied. It basically equates to "It's too complex for anybody but the creator to understand". But we've spent the last 2,000 years disproving that notion. Don't you think that should be considered? At one time, the world was considered to be flat, and Earth was considered to be the center of the universe. Which are ideas directly from the Bible, and once accepted as truths. Questioning that could have resulted in severe punishment from the church. Ask Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake for his cosmological ideas. Galileo was throw in prison for his heliocentric model. There's an infinite amount of knowledge we now accept as truth, that was all once considered unknowable and only for God to understand. The things that were once too complex and only for God to know, are now common knowledge. If that biblical idea is correct, then what about all the advancement we've made? How do you account for that?

And regardless, do you personally believe that if there were an omnipotent omniscient creator, that he'd want his creations to have a set static amount of knowledge and be content with "God did it" for everything else? Do you think it would make sense to give man free will, but yet limit his knowledge in which to execute that free will? And if you do believe that, what's the explanation for why that has failed? If knowledge only comes from God, how do you explain all the knowledge we've gained since, if God was content with our knowledge as of 2000 years ago?

This thread is ridiculous. The vast majority of people are complete idiots to try and differentiate what percentage falls on what side of this is a pointless venture. Trying to claim atheists are more intelligent is like trying to say you're smarter just because you are a liberal.